TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The Smith County Commissioners Court voted unanimously Tuesday to take the first step toward creating a regional groundwater conservation district, an effort that involves 16 East Texas counties.

The commissioners voted to hire a water-focused law firm to help create the multi-county water conservation district.

Smith County rancher Rex Coulter came to Tuesday's meeting to stress the importance of protecting groundwater as the area faces an increasing threat of wells being drilled to pump water and send it to other places."That tells me there's a lot of money involved and when there's a lot of money involved, there's usually a lot of graft corruption and the general public is not always well served," Coulter said.